'Law and Order: SVU' spinoff’s producer fired by Dick Wolf after threatening to ‘light up’ looters with gun
Writer Craig Gore, whose credits include ‘S.W.A.T.’ and ‘Chicago P.D.’, has been fired from Dick Wolf’s upcoming ‘Law and Order: Special Victims Unit’ spinoff series after controversial comments on the rioting in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
Gore reportedly shared a photo of himself brandishing a large gun on Facebook. The photo was captioned, “Curfew”. In the comments section, he reportedly wrote, “Sunset is being looted two blocks from me. You think I won’t light motherf****** up who are trying to f*** with my property I worked all my life for? Think again.”
Screenshots of the photo and his comments went viral on Twitter. Many users tagged ‘Law and Order: SVU’ actor Christopher Meloni, who plays the role of NYPD Detective Elliot Stabler in the show. One of these tweets was written by Drew Janda, reportedly an Associate Producer at NBCUniversal, the channel that airs Wolf’s show.
Meloni, in fact, responded to the tweet with, “Truth: Matt Olmstead is my Showrunner. I have gotten no word on ANY hirings. I have no idea who this person is or what they do.”
In the aftermath of this outrage, Wolf fired Gore. “I will not tolerate this conduct, especially during our hour of national grief,” Wolf said in a statement Tuesday, June 2. “I am terminating Craig Gore immediately.”
Gore, per reports, announced last month on Twitter and Facebook that he was joining the new ‘Law and Order: SVU’ spinoff. He was supposed to serve as a Co-Executive Producer on the legal drama series.
Hours before Gore’s post went viral, the writers of CBS’s ‘S.W.A.T.’, in which Gore was an Executive Producer, shared a message on the Twitter account SWATWritersRoom.
The statement read: “When ‘S.W.A.T.’ began three years ago on CBS, as writers we examined the intersection of black communities and law enforcement through the eyes of Daniel ‘Hondo’ Harrelson, an African-American cop who has one foot firmly planted in each world. Since then we have continued to tell stories that have explored themes of race and policing in minority communities. We also asked questions about what is required to build trust and bridge these two worlds. We are watching recent events with horror and sadness along with everyone else and will continue to mine the truth about these issues in the writing of our upcoming season, as we all work towards a fairer, better system. In the meantime, we encourage protesters to express their frustrations peacefully and implore to de-escalate conflicts, not exacerbate them, as people work through their understandable anger and grief.”
Gore, per Variety, recently had a ‘DEA’ series in development at Fox. However, the network reportedly passed on the project, which had been given a script plus penalty commitment, earlier this year.
On March 31, it was reported that NBC was bringing Meloni back to reprise his role as Elliot Stabler in a new 'Law and Order' spinoff. The network had reportedly greenlit a 13-episode season.